Chris never thought that one man could be attractive to another. Of course, he had heard about all of those fairies and ponces at whom Ray and Guv were constantly laughing, but it was somehow abstract to him, like unicorns or something. And then Sam Tyler came along. At first it was just an innocent admiration of the more experienced officer, who seemed to be from the place where everything was better, more accurate and made the job easy, like that interview recording, even though he didn t always understand what the Boss was talking about. Then came the admiration of his courage in making sure he got his way- Sam was the only person who could stand up to Guv about doing things as he wanted. He didn t care about the lack of support from his colleagues, or even the adversity from the rest of C.I.D.

When Boss had finally become accustomed to his new environment, he started showing another, softer side. He gave Chris good advice and he was the only one who didn t treat him like div, but more like a student, who needed to be taught, to whom things should be explained before they were required of him, he even praised him! Apart from that, Boss seemed to consider Chris as another human being, and while all of the team was laughing at Chris misfortune with the ladies, Sam was there for him and gave him plenty of good and wise advices. All of that was, in Chris opinion, a good excuse for the affection which he felt towards his D.I. But there were moments like these that proved to him how wrong he was in his judgment. Every time the team went to clubs he ended up doubting himself.

Right now he was sitting at the table with Guv and Ray and watching Sam dancing at the centre of the dance floor with some bird who, in Chris eyes, didn t exist; the only thing that counted was Sam, dancing to the music with that blissful smile on his face, with a smile that was cheerful and seductive at the same time. Because of the evenings like this one, Chris woke up some nights flushed and panting with an image of his Boss dancing naked burned inside his mind. Chris tried on numerous occasions to limit himself to admiring his D.I platonically, but thanks to all of those invitations to Temide (new name of The Warrens ) he had to convince himself that everything he felt for Sam qualified as idealization and admiration , not desire . Despite that, he couldn t take his eyes off Boss figure on the dance floor and his mind was flooded with dreams what would it feel like, if he could touch that swaying body, if he could run his fingers through that short hair of Sam Tyler. But that could never be, and he knew it so well. To Sam, he was just a co-worker, a colleague, nothing more. So he could only watch from a distance

There s a demon inside her who came from hell ( )

he put this heat inside me I m ashamed to tell ( )

Is there a soul beneath her skin?

Although she bears the cross of all our human sins

Oh Notre Dame, please let me go beyond God s law

Open the door of love inside

Ray hated Tyler before that ponce took his first step into C.I.D acting like a king of jungle. That fairy took his job. Later it turned out that he had no respect and survival instinct, since he was cocky enough to pick up a fight with the Guv. But the worst came later he turned out to be damn good at what he did. For that, Ray hated him even more. Tyler started to earn respect from everyone and his gay-boy science, as Guv called it, proved to be effective, even if it was a drag. And, at the top of things, Guv, instead of firing him, started to listen to him! Instead of giving him hints that he could never be a part of the team, he just told him he was a team and started to work him and trust that faggot! Ray was sure that he couldn t hate anyone more than he hated Tyler. But with time, this hatred evolved into some sort of ill fascination. Against himself, Ray started to watch Tyler in every spare moment, he saw every little emotion on Tyler s face when he read reports, he observed as his face got red every time he was arguing with the Guv. That was the final proof that Tyler was some sort of unholy force which kept on dragging the whole team into depths of hell and Ray himself turned into some queer! Why else would he sit here and watch Tyler dancing? Why would he savor every movement Sam made and felt the image burning inside his brain to haunt him in the night? It was all Tyler s fault, him and his devilish tricks. That damned poof, with his moves like a whore in heat, which he displayed for anyone to see, the ever holier-than-thou Tyler! But more than Sam, Ray despised himself. For sometimes forgetting about Tyler being the devil-pansy and seeing him as a human. A quite brilliant human, who was unappreciated by everyone. For feeling some sort of sympathy for him when he caught Tyler screaming in bathrooms about wanting to go home, even though Ray himself was laughing at him and joking about him being mad as the hatter. He never said anything nice to Tyler, not even once. Sometimes he felt that it was unfair that Guv, in the heat of argument, never mentioned Sam s achievements. Only his mistakes, but he loathed himself for that sort of thoughts. It was safer to despise Tyler. Oh, what a tart! What normal person moves like that in the centre of the club?! No one, only that saint fucking Tyler! Oh, yes, Ray hated him, he was sure of that now. And he hated himself for wanting him. For desiring his touch, for the urge to possess him and most of all for praying, that Tyler would somehow come to love him

Even though her eyes seem to lead us to hell

She may be more pure, more pure that words can tell

But when she dances, the feelings come no man can quer ( )

Oh Fleur De Ly man who knows no law

I got to open up the rose

Gene observed his table companions in silence. Chris was staring at the dancefloor with the face of a love-struck puppy. Gene didn t have to look in that direction to know that the div was eying Sam. He himself was a witness of Skelton s looks which were sent his Boss way and those weren't always filled with mere loyalty or admiration

Not that he could blame kid, Sam moving that way could tempt a priest, which he probably already did, considering how fast that Claude fella was ready to give them information after twenty minutes in Sam s presence. And he was looking at him in that hungry way Ray s look was what surprised him. His Sergeant was almost crushing his pint with his fingers. In his eyes that were fixed on Sam Gene could see hunger and lust. And so much hatred Gene wondered why he d never noticed it before, but he himself was guilty of staring at his D.I too much.

He was the only one who knew, that Sam was completely oblivious to the effect he had on another men and women. He would never believe if Gene told him, that right now almost everyone in the club was staring at him, and his dancing partner was probably in love already.

Gene smiled to himself. How those poor fools could know, that the object of their desire was already in someone else s net? It would probably break poor kid and Ray to know, that Sam would never be able to return their passion, because he was their Guv s prey. He was the one who took the flower everyone else was only staring at.

And if Gene could say so it was for the best. That two saw in Tyler only his body, though of course it was tempting.

It reminded him of some book his mother made him read in his youth. Something about Notre Dame and that gypsy bird that everyone wanted.

Gladys would of course be the gypsy, whose dance made three main heroes fight for her love. In that case Chris, poor sod was the hunchback, who fell for kindness and courage but desired body as well. Ray was thorn between hatred and lust like that priest who should just get laid so he wouldn t be such a drama queen.

So that made him a knight in shining armor that had a fianc e already, but fell in love with the gypsy. Well, at least that part about the fianc e fits, considering he himself was a married man when he decided to do something about that tension between them and made a move. Now he was after a divorce and he didn t regret it even for a minute. And he wasn t going to leave Sam, even if their affair should be discovered. He would never say that to Sam of course, because the great girl would cry himself to death with emotion or, even worse, start spreading the air of romance everywhere.

No, Gene wasn t like Phoebus at all. He saw in Sam more than his body, more than his courage or brilliance, more than his heart and emotions. He saw loneliness, guilt and lack of understanding and he took it. He wasn t trying to fix it, because he himself was a broken man, so how could he? But he embraced Sam s fears and weakness and he made them work. Made that relationship work and, in his opinion, both he and Sam were as happy as they could get. They never had illusions that once they were together everything would be alright, that everything bad will pass. It wouldn t. But they had themselves and that was enough. He looked once again at his companions and smiled once again. Among all of them, he was the one in whose bed the gypsy would end 'her' dance, which, by the way, was really starting to become disturbing He got up, passed Chris and Ray and went to Sam.